Composer: Dave Ragland
Librettist: Selda Sahin
World Premiere Performance
Performance runtime: approximately 65 minutes—with no intermission

Winners of the 2023 96-Hour Opera Project, composer Dave Ragland and librettist Selda Sahin, have created a new chamber opera titled Steele Roots, a work inspired by the life and legacy of Carrie Steele Logan, a formerly enslaved woman who dedicates her life to caring for orphaned children in Atlanta. Eminent director Tazewell Thompson mentored the winning team throughout the two-year process of bringing this opera to production.

Steele Roots is an opera that examines themes of legacy, family, and perseverance through the lens of its central character, Carrie Steele. Set in the late 19th century at the Atlanta Termanl train station and moving into the present day, the story follows Carrie, who uses her literacy, integrity, and compassion to care for abandoned children while raising funds by selling her autobiography to establish a permanent home for them.

Carrie’s legacy is explored via Ruth, a 12-year-old in her care who is learning to read, and Raymond, a coworker who supports her efforts. The narrative shifts between past and present as Michael, a modern-day father, arrives seeking a connection to his family roots to become a better father to his newborn daughter. The story explores ideas of community, responsibility, and the enduring influence of one person’s actions. Carrie’s efforts endure in the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, an Atlanta institution and a testament to her determination and vision. With its blend of music and dialogue, Steele Roots reflects how a single person can change the world for the better.

Steele Roots begins at the Atlanta Terminal Railroad Station in 1888, where we meet Carrie Steele holding a tiny, crying baby. Carrie, a formerly enslaved woman and an orphan herself, is now a maid for the railway and has also been caring for abandoned children. She’s raising money to start an orphanage. The station allows the children in her care to play in empty boxcars while she’s at work. She’s teaching one of the older kids (Ruth) to read, and the station attendant (Raymond) helps her as best he can.

A train arrives, and Michael comes into the station. He’s wearing modern clothes, but no one seems to notice. When Carrie is needed elsewhere, Michael offers to hold the baby she is tending. His caring for the baby is effortless, and when Carrie comes back, he reveals that he knows who she is. In a time shift that confuses Carrie, the scene transitions to the present day. The scene is in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery—where Carrie is buried. The baby Michael holds is his own—and it’s revealed that Michael is a direct descendant of one of the children rescued by Carrie. He’s brought his daughter to Carrie’s grave to show her where they are from—an attempt to connect to his past.

Carrie learns that the home she was working so hard to fund gets built—and still exists today. In an abstract merging of time and place, Michael—alongside people directly changed by Carrie’s home—pays homage to her and the legacy she left—a legacy that continues to influence lives to this day.